I have lived in or near National Parks most of my life. So I have had countless encounters with rude rangers. For every bad one, there are several good ones. That get overshawdowed by the few A--holes.

I also have had my fair share of bad encounters with idiots concerning dive flags. My partner even had his gun shot during a river dive. Dive flag bouys make great targets. I live in the Sierra Mountains and dive its lakes. I do not use dive flags anymore. They are just to dangerous.

I think many divers are given a false sense of security from a dive flag. The law does not support the use of dive flags. If any thing it is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Read page 19 and see how weak this law is.http://dbw.ca.gov/Pubs/Abc/oplaw.pdfI only keep my dive flags for possible use at the ocean. After reading your post. I doubt their worth there.